When Cheryl first heard of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), she writes, she was living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sad and desperate and on the brink of divorcing a man she still loved. "The Pacific Crest Trail wasn't a world to me then. It was an idea, vague and outlandish, full of promise and mystery."

Seven months later, she laced up her boots and began her 1,100-mile journey across deserts, mountains, rivers, highways and rainforests.